South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
What’s in store for Florida cruises
A roller coaster, a renaming, Richard Branson and Florida finally getting a Quantum-class ship mark Sunshine State cruise highlights for 2020.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras, a brand new class of ship and the largest ever built for the company, will make its debut in Port Canaveral with the firstever roller coaster at sea. It will join another what’s-old-is-now-new ship when Carnival Victory goes under the knife and becomes Carnival Radiance.
Meanwhile, the state will welcome Virgin Voyages, a new adults-only cruise line from Richard Branson’s vast travel empire, as Scarlet Lady makes its way to Miami by March.
And after six years and four previous versions of Royal Caribbean’s most technologically advanced ships having sailed the world, Florida is finally set to be the home port for the fifth Quantumclass ship as Odyssey of the Seas makes its way to Port Everglades in the fall.
The state will also see the debut of the new Regent Seven Seas Splendor, Celebrity Apex and Enchanted Princess marking another big influx with six (seven if you include Radiance) new cruise ships set to call Florida home in their first year of service.
Here’s a rundown of the new hardware:
Carnival’s Mardi Gras: The 180,000-gross-ton, 6,500-passenger vessel is the largest ever for Carnival with the 800-foot-long roller coaster Bolt: Ultimate Sea Coaster wrapping around the signature red-and-blue ship funnel. As the largest ship, the cruise line is taking a page out of Royal Caribbean’s book for carving up the spaces into neighborhoods in the same way Oasis-class ships do. Mardi Gras’ spaces will be called Grand Central, French Quarter, La Piazza, Summer Landing, Lido and The Ultimate Playground. With a good deal of New Orleans theming, celebrity Chef Emeril Lagasse will debut Emeril’s Bistro 1396 on board with his signature Cajun cuisine and a raw bar.
Other features include an expanded Guy’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse Brewhouse from Food Network star Guy Fieri as well as Guy’s Burger Joint. Also on board will be Carnival mainstays like Alchemy Bar, Fahrenheit 555 Steak
house, Seafood Shack, BlueIguana Cantina Mexican eatery and Pizzeria del Capitano.
Recently announced delays at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland forced Carnival to cancel some planned European and New York sailings, so it will instead make its debut cruise Nov. 14 out of Port Canaveral after the reopening of the revamped Cruise Terminal 3, from which it will sail year-round, seven-night Caribbean itineraries.
Mardi Gras will be the first cruise ship in North America to run on liquefied natural gas, a cleaner-burning fuel that will be seen on future ships such as those from Disney Cruise Line.
Carnival Radiance: This is the third Carnival cruise ship to get a new name after a major overhaul. First it was Carnival Destiny becoming Carnival Sunshine back in 2013, followed by the 2019 transformation of Carnival Triumph into Carnival Sunrise. Now, Carnival Victory, which debuted in 2000, will get a $200 million facelift and emerge as Carnival Radiance.
The makeover will see the addition of a large WaterWorks aqua park with a new slide called the AquaTunnel, plus a ropes course and basketball court. For food, the ship will get a whole array of cruise line food venue mainstays, but also debut the first chicken restaurant at sea from the line’s celebrity spokesperson Shaquille O’Neal called Big Chicken. The restaurant concept developed by the former NBA star currently has a Las Vegas location, and will be a free, quick-service venue with a limited menu of fried chicken sandwiches and side items.
The planned 38-day dry dock in Cadiz, Spain will see Radiance emerge for summer sailings in Europe, migrate to New York and Norfolk for Canada, New England, Bermuda as well as Caribbean cruises, and then share space with Mardi Gras at Port Canaveral for service beginning Nov. 8.
Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady: Sir Richard Branson has got planes, trains and space ships. Now he’s got a sea-going vessel as the first of four planned ships in a new cruise line is set to make its way to Miami.
The 110,000-gross-ton ship will be able to sail with 2,770 passengers, none of them under the age of 18. Dialing into Branson’s music-oriented background, the ship features 78 rockstar suites. Fifteen are called Mega RockStar Suites, some with custom-stocked bars and their own guitars. The ship’s nightclub will be called The Manor, which was the name of Branson’s first Virgin music studio.
The ship will feature more than
20 places to grab a bite or drink with each restaurant featuring its own bar, like Razzle Dazzle, which is home to the Drag Brunch, where drag queens put on a show twice per sailing in the restaurant’s attached Red Bar. Unlike standard cruises, there won’t be a traditional buffet or main dining room or assigned dining times.
Also on board: the first tattoo parlor at sea.
Scarlet Lady’s inaugural sailing will be April 1, with itineraries that include Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic as well as stops at Virgin’s Beach Club at Bimini in the Bahamas.
Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Seas: This is the second Quantum Plus-class ship, slightly larger than the first three Quantum-class ships that have proved popular around the world, but never based in Florida until now.
A technological feat, the ship features the North Star ride, which is like a London Eye at sea that sends riders aboard a glass capsule attached to a rotating, pivoting crane-arm that can rise to more than 300 feet above the ocean as well as jut out over the side of the ship while offering
360-degree views. Odyssey will also feature an indoor skydiving attraction and a massive gathering venue offering 270-degree views from the aft of the ship.
Also on board will be SkyPad, a top-deck, bungee-trampolinevirtual-reality attraction. It will join cruise line staples like the FlowRider surf simulator, rock climbing wall and the indoor sports and entertainment venue called SeaPlex, which will be the largest indoor activity space at sea, according to the cruise line. This multi-deck venue is home to the bumper cars, but also virtual reality games in an interactive arcade, augmented reality walls and floors, a trapeze school, the pop-up glow-in-the-dark laser tag arena as well as the line’s popular Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, which will allow for peoplewatching from above to the lower-deck play space.
The 168,000-gross-ton Quantum Ultra-class ship can hold more than 4,200 passengers at double capacity, and will arrive in November 2020 to sail six- and eight-night Caribbean voyages from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades.
Regent Seven Seas Splendor: The sister ship to 2016’s Regent Seven Seas Explorer, which was billed as “the most luxurious cruise ship ever,” Seven Seas Splendor is what the all-inclusive line calls “the ship that perfects luxury.”
The 750-guest vessel will have once again some of the largest balconies at sea, and that’s for every passenger of this all-suite ship. The checkboxes for luxury are in play with 46,000 square feet of Italian marble, a multimillion-dollar art collection strewn across the entire ship and even crystal chandeliers along every deck hallway.
The highest-end suite, the
4,443-square-foot Regent Suite, features a $200,000 Hästens Vividus custom handmade mattress, in-suite spa retreat with a personal sauna and steam room on top of 270-degree views from the ship’s bow from a
1,300-square-foot wraparound veranda. Those passengers get their own butler and personal car and driver in every port.
For those not as well off, the ship will once again feature the largest exquisite dining options, including main dining room Compass Rose, Pan-Asian offering Pacific Rim, Prime 7 steakhouse, classic French cuisine at Chartreuse and Italian fare at Sette Mari at La Veranda, which has added specialty seating in an over-water alcove not seen on Explorer. Passengers can also get their inner chef on at the Culinary Arts Kitchen, the popular concept borrowed from sister line Oceania Cruises, that’s used for
90-minute-long classes.
The ship features more than
600 crew for a 1:1.38 passenger-tocrew ratio. It will debut out of PortMiami with a special christening ceremony with godmother Christie Brinkley on Feb. 21. It will use Miami as a starting and stopping point as it sails the spring to San Diego and then New York, but will return in November 2020 for roundtrip voyages from the port.
Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Apex: The sister ship to the groundbreaking Celebrity Edge will follow in its sibling’s wake, heading to the new terminal at Port Everglades in fall after a summer debut in Europe.
Just like Edge, the
2,918-passenger Apex will feature the unique Magic Carpet, the iconic exterior elevator platform that performs multiple roles, acting as an innovative way for passengers to disembark and reboard the ship when it tenders at ports of call, but also doubling as an entertainment and dining venue. Also just like Edge, Apex will include the three-story venue called Eden at the aft of the ship that acts as lounge and avantgarde aerialist performance stage. The ship will also once again feature the Infinite Verandah staterooms in which the balcony is part of the cabin.
Apex’s first Florida sailing is a two-night Bahamas cruise on Nov.
5 followed by seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries.
Princess Cruises’ Enchanted Princess: The fifth ship in the line’s Royal Class of ships is set to debut in Port Everglades this fall.
Just like 2019’s Sky Princess, the 143,700-ton, 3,660-guest ship will feature two Sky Suites with what the line calls the largest balcony at sea and will be the second ship with the cruise line’s interactive Ocean Medallion technology built-in from the beginning. It’s a system similar to Disney’s MagicBand that acts as a room key, credit card and wayfinder.
Enchanted Princess will also have its own version of the escape room that debuted in Sky Princess, the second ship with the new Take Five jazz lounge, and the gelateria with the Italian seal of approval. Also on board will be similar offerings from other Royal Class ships including Alfredo’s Pizzeria with hand-made Italianstyle pizzas, French venue Bistro Sur La Mer from 3-star Michelin recipient Chef Emmanuel Renaut, Crown Grill steakhouse, Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria and Ocean Terrace Seafood Bar.
Enchanted Princess arrives at Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 19 after a summer in European sailings. It will sail seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages.
What else is new in 2020? Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas is getting one of the most expensive overhauls of the year. The second Oasis-class ship is getting $165 million in upgrades to make it similar to the newer sister ships Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas. The original ship in the group of world’s largest cruise ships received the upgrades in 2019. It includes the addition of the
10-story dry slide The Ultimate Abyss and the three slide Perfect Storm water park. The 58-day overhaul will take place in March and April 2020 ahead of the ship’s summer sailing season in the Mediterranean, after which it will reposition to PortMiami in November 2020.
Other ships getting dry dock enhancements in 2020 include Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Infinity, Oceania Nautica, Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas and Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas.
What’s new at the ports? Port Canaveral will open its new Terminal 3 to host Carnival’s new ships while continuing work on revamping Terminal 8, home to Disney Cruise Line, which will shut down for five months beginning in June. Disney will use the adjacent Terminal 10 during the work. The fall will also welcome the largest ship ever from Norwegian Cruise Line when the original ship in the four Breakaway Plus-class of ships, Norwegian Escape, arrives.
PortMiami will see the opening of its latest new terminal, one for Norwegian Cruise Line slated to be completed by June 2020. The unique building design is taking shape adjacent to Royal Caribbean’s new terminal that opened in
2018 while more terminals for Carnival, MSC and Virgin Voyages
are planned beyond 2020.
Port Everglades looks to complete construction on the new parking garage for Terminal 2 and
4. The 1,888-space building will feature an air-conditioned bridge with moving walkways that will be ready by the fall.
What’s new in the Bahamas? MSC Cruises, which expanded its fleet to four ships based out of Miami in 2019, will finally welcome the opening of its private destination Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, 95-acre resort with 11,400 feet of beach and its own pier. The destination will have bars, restaurants and a new lighthouse that the line said will be a focal point of evening entertainment.
Royal Caribbean continues to grow its Perfect Day at Coco Cay, which debuted a massive overhaul in 2019 that included things like a water park with the tallest water slide in North America and even helium balloon rides. For the new year, the island will see the opening of Coco Beach Club, which opens Jan. 31. The exclusive part of the island has a capacity for 450 guests, and will have
20 overwater cabanas with overwater hammocks, slides and personal attendants. The area also has 10 landside cabanas plus daybeds alongside an infinity pool and higher-end Mediterranean dining.
Next door to Coco Cay is Great Stirrup Cay, home to Norwegian Cruise Line and its sister lines Oceania and Regent Seven Seas. The island just expanded its higher-end offerings as well with the introduction of Silver Cove, which features modern villas around a pristine private lagoon, upscale buffet and spa.
Carnival Cruise Line will begin construction in 2020 to expand its offerings at Half Moon Cay while also beginning work on a new private destination on Grand Bahama Island, but won’t be open until 2021 or later. The same goes for Disney Cruise Line, which will begin construction on its new private destination, Lighthouse Point, at the end of the Bahamas island of Eleuthera, but may not open until 2023.
What’s next? With six new ships and one renamed one,
2020’s busy year in Florida means a slowdown for new hardware in
2021. In fact, there are no new ships expected to arrive to Florida until Disney Cruise Line debuts Disney Wish, which won’t be delivered to the line until December 2021 and not begin sailing from Port Canaveral until January
2022. A second Virgin Voyages ship, Valiant Lady, is headed to the Mediterranean while new Oasis-class ship Wonder of the Seas is headed to China. There are new ships from Princess, Holland America and Celebrity coming in 2021, but their home ports have yet to be announced.